Have ordered a Hobie trailer for my PA12, as I'm finally over roof topping.
Have ordered the double stack kit for the two weeks a year that my wife likes to come with me.
I've now decided to keep my Outback, should a non-yakker want to come for a fish...

My question is, how "rigged" do you transport your kayak on the trailer?

I'm thinking I'll be able to leave my seat, livewell and half paddle on, as I used to do that with on my old ute with the PA12.
However I am concerned about my H-Rail mounted accessories.
I've read that the roll pins can vibrate out. Has anyone else had any experiences with them?

I used to tow the outback around pre-rigged when I had it, everything in except rods and battery. My cart went inverted behind the seat with the rear bungee looped over it. The only issue I remember was one trip where I had just crossed the West Gate Bridge and looked in the rear view mirror just at the right time to see one on my balloon wheels come off the trax cart, bounce on the road and up over the car behind me. Second bounce saw it clear off to the side of the road luckily. Pulled in picked up the wheel and moved the cart to the back of the wagon.

My PA12 travells on the trailer fully rigged if its a short drive, less than an hour or so. I literally can pull up take the two straps off and slide it back far enough to put wheels in and off I go after throwing in the dry bag with keys in it .Revo its a matter of loading rods but other wise similar. Longer distances i de rig a bit to keep "sticky fingers" at bay.

For anyone else following this thread, or reading in the future, I'll also add that I've communicated with James at HWS, and he tells me he leaves all his H-Rail mounts on (bar sounder) when transporting his yaks.
Have also heard from numerous other punters on Facebook that they have had no issues with H-Rail mounts coming loose in transit.
The only issues have been ram balls snapping, due to the weight of their attachments bouncing around.

After further research I've found that this used to be a problem with the mounts, but has since been rectified by Hobie by flaring the ends of the roll pins after installation.
Checked all my mounts and have found that all my roll pins are flared.

Also read if you find "unflared" pins, you can sandwich the pins between a couple of nails and give a little tap with a hammer. This should stop the pins vibrating out.

Summing up, I will transport my yak fully rigged bar my sounder and tackle tray.
Should give me and extra hour and a half on the water.

When I travel with my yak, Paul - I put things like my life jacket, box of lures & the front of the net on the seat & then use the Occy Strap that holds the pedals 'flat on the hull' to hold the seat down (after I have folded it down) & then put a fairly solid tarp over the whole lot, held down with lots of occy straps/rope.

I've reinforced the bits where 'taller things' like rod holders may push a hole thru the tarp by gluing bits of compressed foam at each pressure point = to prevent the tarp tearing.

kayak on trailer P6290005.jpg

I usually leave a lot of stuff in the side wells too .....

cheers

Roberta

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I'd love to see more pics of what you've done to the racking at the top of your trailer. I'm currently thinking of how I can 'easily' put 2 x Hobie PA 14 kayaks, double stacked, on the current light boat trailer I have, and I'm looking for ideas / inspiration on what to do to help get the top PA14 into place.

So if you don't mind and get a chance to take a couple of pics, I'd appreciate it.

Hi Ke00
....I'd love to see more pics of what you've done to the racking at the top of your trailer. I'm currently thinking of how I can 'easily' put 2 x Hobie PA 14 kayaks, double stacked, on the current light boat trailer I have, and I'm looking for ideas / inspiration on what to do to help get the top PA14 into place.
So if you don't mind and get a chance to take a couple of pics, I'd appreciate it.....

How light is your boat trailer? Do you use it only for your kayaks or does it have storage underneath & you want to put racks up above it for the yaks? Do you have a pic of it?

Initially, we tried just pushing it up from the sides (hence the tubing along the edge rail ....) but I still had difficulty with the weight of the yak.

Keith made a rear 'loading device' from bits of aluminium & a boat 'roller' ... it has 2 small uprights that fit under the existing roof racks on the trailer. Keith made the racks from pieces of thick aluminium that he added compressed foam to. They 'flex' a bit, so take the shape of the yak as it is winched on. It is bolted down on both sides of the 'white foam' that is also to protect the keel, as it 'bottomed' otherwise & we thought it could be damaged without the extra protection there.

Trailer rear mount for yak P6290003.jpg

You put the snout of the yak onto the roller, attach the rope to it and start winding from the front, pulling the yak up & onto the roof. You really need 2 people - one to hold the yak as it goes up to make sure it doesn't slew off .....

yak on trailer P6290005.jpg

Initially we had the winch much lower down, but it didn't work at all (it fits into a small housing on the side of the trailer arm) - so Keith added a length of pipe to make it taller. This made it 'wobble' - so we have the bit of timber there to stabilise it as you wind. If you had a small electric winch at the front, I reckon you could do it single handed tho .....

P6290004.jpg

Re loading your PA - it could be easier to load if you have them both slanted a bit instead of on top of each other? That would spread the load better on your trailer too.

Hope this helps

cheers

Roberta

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Hi Roberta/Paul,
If you really wanted to do it single handed with a bit more engineering up front, you could always see if one of these remote control 12v winches would do the job for one. I'm sure they would have adequate power .

Thought I'd update this post with what I've found after my first few trips with the new trailer.
Most of my fishing involves at least a 250km round trip at highway and freeway speeds, so I want to be sure that everything is secure.

Firstly, the H-Rail mounts do not come loose.
However I don't trust them enough to leave my fish finder on.
I also remove my h-rail tackle tray, as it is reasonably weighty.

Net is stored under the strapped down seat.
Livewell stays on, though I had to add tri-glides to the straps to stop them from coming loose.
I made a little bungie strap to hold the back of it down.
It sits on a piece of non-slip matting.

Paddle is in the clip and also secured with a velcro strap down near the blade.
Camera boom is also velcro strapped to the h-rail to stop it bouncing around.

Rods are transported in the yak, though I have covers on the reels, and rod armour on the rods.

I found that the battery bounces out of the bracket inside the hull, so I take it out.
I might get a strap for it, although there's a fair bit of weight in the battery, and I think the mast clamp would fail over time.

As others have posted on the forum, I didn't like the OEM location of the number plate, so have moved it up onto the frame and wired in a plate light.

Trailer.jpg

Livewell and Paddle 1.jpg

Livewell and Paddle 2.jpg

Rods.jpg

Battery Bracket.jpg

Relocated Plate.jpg

Cheers,
PF

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Thank you both VERY MUCH for your detailed explanations on transporting your kayaks.
I've got a lot more to think about now (and this is good) before jumping into my addition to my single boat trailer.

I want to make putting the second PA14 on the trailer as easy as possible

If I'm transporting 2 x PA14 kayaks then I will have the second person there to help with stopping the top kayak skewing off as I use the boat winch, so I don't see that as an issue (hopefully)